Posted on 06/21/2004 10:19:15 PM PDT by JohnHuang2
President Bush plans to unveil next month a sweeping mental health initiative that recommends screening for every citizen and promotes the use of expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs favored by supporters of the administration.
The New Freedom Initiative, according to a progress report, seeks to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," the British Medical Journal reported.
Critics say the plan protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.
The initiative began with Bush's launch in April 2002 of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which conducted a "comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system."
The panel found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children.
The commission said, "Each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional disorders."
Schools, the panel concluded, are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.
The commission recommended that the screening be linked with "treatment and supports," including "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific medications for specific conditions."
The Texas Medication Algorithm Project, or TMAP, was held up by the panel as a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes."
The TMAP -- started in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas -- also was praised by the American Psychiatric Association, which called for increased funding to implement the overall plan.
But the Texas project sparked controversy when a Pennsylvania government employee revealed state officials with influence over the plan had received money and perks from drug companies who stand to gain from it.
Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General says in his whistleblower report the "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that developed the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab."
Jones points out, according to the British Medical Journal, companies that helped start the Texas project are major contributors to Bush's election funds. Also, some members of the New Freedom Commission have served on advisory boards for these same companies, while others have direct ties to TMAP.
Eli Lilly, manufacturer of olanzapine, one of the drugs recommended in the plan, has multiple ties to the Bush administration, BMJ says. The elder President Bush was a member of Lilly's board of directors and President Bush appointed Lilly's chief executive officer, Sidney Taurel, to the Homeland Security Council.
Of Lilly's $1.6 million in political contributions in 2000, 82 percent went to Bush and the Republican Party.
Another critic, Robert Whitaker, journalist and author of "Mad in America," told the British Medical Journal that while increased screening "may seem defensible," it could also be seen as "fishing for customers."
Exorbitant spending on new drugs "robs from other forms of care such as job training and shelter program," he said.
However, a developer of the Texas project, Dr. Graham Emslie, defends screening.
"There are good data showing that if you identify kids at an earlier age who are aggressive, you can intervene ... and change their trajectory."
Prescription drug plan, check.
Ted Kennedy's education nightmare, check.
AIDS money for Africa, check.
Microscopic tax cuts, trumpeted as the next coming of Jesus, check.
What else have I missed?
And you don't believe this? Bush is not a small government kind of guy. Wake up.
It's easy, He's named Jesus!
As for sharing the costs... that is sarcasm, isn't it? I can't think of much we are not already paying for...
Easily proven one way or the other by reading the original source material. Guess what? I've read enough of it to discover that the writer was spot on.
He hates the President.
False.
Why in the hell is everyone trusting this emotional whack job?
Ah, another IRONY_ALERT, I see.
I am so tired of reading his crap.
I could make a snide -- but approriate -- comment at this juncture, but I'll bite my tongue and suggest that you get off your high horse long enough to read the original source material and then get back with us after you know what you're talking about.
Last time I checked, Jesus was at odds with Caesar (intrusive government).
This is a private sector issue, from beginning to end. The Federal government has NO business doing this, or most of whatever else it does these days.
The kids?
What about the part that mandates screening for the rest of the population?
Will intrusive questions about the family be asked such as gun ownership, smoking, and drinking?
I'd be surprised if they weren't. Wouldn't you?
The point is that the President's people ought to get on top of this and ditch the idea of mass screenings loud and clear.
"Should" and "will" do not always intersect, especially when they're busy endorsing it.
If they do, then I don't think there'll be much of a problem.
If my dog starts pooping out gold nuggets, I'll be rich.
Guess which outcome has a greater probability of success?
This program promises to expand their reach much farther. Imagine being labeled as having a psychiatric condition at age 7, and it follows you for the rest of your life, just because the school gets federal money for making that diagnosis.
This proposal needs to be fought with everything we have.
Oh pshaw. READ the damn thing instead of harping on the same tune already.
Oh good grief.
I didn't pop off at anything. I happen to have lots of experience in medical regulations and interpreting things just like this.
And I'm a former (two term) Michigan HMO Commissioner. I know a thing or two myself about medical regulations and interpreting them. Hell, I got paid to interpret them. And to ...gasp... regulate them.
But I digress.
What we have here is an impasse. I read what it says, and it says what the writer says it says. You, however, refuse to read what it says, because you ...gasp... know that it couldn't possibly say what I say it says. So, you opt to attempt to cut me down, berate me, and convince others to join you in a rhapsody of whistling past the graveyard.
Go right ahead, dear.
Bump to peruse and stare with slack jawed amazement at the STUPIDITY of this move.
Things like this make me appreciate the two-term limit for Presidents.Not just this one,any one.
I did not mention the g'umt. I was responding to a question about equating compassion with conservatism.
conservatism is a mindset. It deals with how one responds to life.
Christianity is life. It deals with how you respond to the Holy Spirit... and interact with your fellow man (woman)...
There is no debate that this is not a federal issue. The debate is whether you are your brother's keeper...
But, that being said, off the point, mental health expert=quack... IMHO! Psychiatry is at odds with the rest of us. There used to be a clear cut response to homosexuality. It was defined, by these "doctors", as a 'personality disorder". Now it (homonsexuality) has been mainstreamed, and we are the mentally diseased, for not accepting these perverts! Hmmmmm....
Well, you can bet that someone's betting on it.
Now, if only I can figure out who, and then get that information to my stockbroker, I'll be able to compensate for that bloody dotcomming I took a few years ago! :)
If only...
Sadly, though, your efforts are misapplied in this context.
Yeah, sort of like the "Patriot" Act.
I had planned to ignore you but there are just two more things to say.
If indeed you were an HMO commissioner then you know better than this garbage you are putting out.
I did read it Don Joe. Where did you get the idea that I didn't?
You made that up because I disagree with you. Fine. You have an agenda here against the President. You need this to be true.
When this thing doesn't happen like you think, will you please freepmail your apology to me?
If I am wrong, I will certainly do it for you.
You seem very hostile towards the mental health profession and The Gay Community. This is evidence of a serious disorder, you realize.
You don't own any guns, do you?
You don't have to answer right away. The evaluation has another 35 minutes to go.
Why stay home? There are some very good third party options, and voting third party sends a much stronger message than abstaining.
I'm guessing refusal to get screened will be considered a sure sign of mental illness.
Diagnosis: paranoid delusions; Treatment: Zyprexa...
Hmm.. Ya know, maybe he's not!
Diagnosis: megalomania; Treatment: Zyprexa.. =)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.